Final judging will take place at the ABCD's awards night in March next year, with each person present able to vote for an overall winner in each category. A small prize will be presented to each of the ten winners. Entry to the event will be free and open to any book cover designer.

The Academy's website will display the shortlisted covers and overall winners.

The Academy is committed to making the awards to be as inclusive as possible. Work that traditionally gets overlooked by other competitions despite being highly original, well executed and relevant will be recognised, because the judges (as fellow book cover designers) will be fully aware of the conditions in which the work was produced.